The number of Russians traveling by car to Europe has halved

FSB statistics showed a halving of the number of trips by Russians to Europe in the third quarter. In September , the EU banned the entry of cars with Russian license plates, but a year ago there was a surge in travel abroad amid partial mobilization

In the third quarter of 2023, the number of trips by Russians by car to European countries decreased by 45% compared to last year, according to data from the FSB border service analyzed by RBC.

In July-September of this year, Russians entered the Schengen zone by road through six European countries that have a common land border with RUSSIA - Finland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Norway (not a member of the European Union, but part of the Schengen zone). In total, in the third quarter, Russian statistics recorded 378.8 thousand such trips. A year earlier, in July-September 2022, there were 684.4 thousand - 1.8 times more.

According to the FSB border service

The statistics of the FSB border service take into account crossings of state borders by both foreign and Russian citizens. Methods of border crossing are considered by several types of transport: road, air, rail, water and pedestrian. According to the methodology, if the same person repeatedly entered the country during the reporting period, he is counted as many times as he crossed the state border in one direction (that is, it is correct to talk about the number of trips, and not the number of citizens).

In September 2023, EU countries introduced  a ban  on Russians traveling in private cars. But a year ago, also in September, against the backdrop of the partial mobilization announced in the 20th, the number of Russians traveling to countries bordering Russia increased sharply, including to European countries. According to the results of the first half of 2023, there were practically no changes in the number of Russians crossing the border of the Schengen zone by vehicle: an overall increase of 0.44%.

In the third quarter of this year, Russians most often visited Finland by car - the border service recorded more than 200 thousand trips there in the third quarter of 2023, but this is 53% less than a year ago. The number of road trips to Estonia decreased by almost the same amount (55%), and to Latvia and Lithuania by about a third.

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But Russians traveled to two European countries by car more often in the third quarter of 2023 than a year ago. Thus, in the third quarter, Russian citizens made 61.7 thousand trips to Poland by car - 35% more than last year (45.7 thousand). In Norway, which is not a member of the EU and joined the ban on the entry of Russian cars later than the third quarter, the number of trips increased by 23% - to 10.3 thousand (8.4 thousand last year).

How Russians were banned from traveling to Europe by car

Trips to Europe across land borders are most often made by Russian citizens who permanently reside in one of the European countries and who have a residence permit or citizenship of one of the EU countries, notes Dmitry Gorin, vice-president of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry (RST). For this reason, there may be an increase in travel to border countries such as Finland and Poland . The ban on entry by cars with Russian license plates, according to Gorin, has not yet been implemented everywhere: for example, in a number of countries there is a certain grace period, after which cars will need to be registered with EU license plates.

The restrictions are expected to lead to a decrease in the number of trips by Russians to Europe by car, Gorin states. However, for some travelers this does not become an obstacle: recently, “combined trips” have been gaining popularity, when a Russian travels to the border in a Russian car, crosses the border checkpoint on foot, and on the other side a car from the European Union is waiting for him, the expert notes.

Russian citizens experienced problems when traveling to European countries in private cars last summer: for example, Russians who came to Germany in their cars faced seizures of their cars at customs. At the beginning of July , German customs confirmed that the import of passenger cars from Russia is prohibited in accordance with Art. 3i of Regulation 833/2014, which defines the embargo against Russia, and that any movement of goods, even for personal non-commercial purposes, falls under this.

In early September, the European Commission confirmed the interpretation of the sanctions legislation in relation to Russia, according to which entry into the EU countries on passenger cars (customs code 8703 - cars for transporting less than ten people) will be regarded as prohibited import , even if they are used for personal purposes and not in commercial. Exceptions are made for EU citizens and their immediate families. On September 12, the European Commission added to its clarification that Russian cars can be used to circumvent sanctions, which explains the increased attention to them.

Based on the wording of the legislation, some personal belongings of Russians, including tourists, such as cosmetics, suitcases, laptops, mobile phones, were also at risk of being seized by the customs authorities of EU countries, but the European Commission called for taking into account the circumstances of import in these cases. “Of course, if a person crosses the border wearing personal clothing that is on the list of prohibited imports, then it is unlikely that he intends to circumvent sanctions , and I do not think that this is a case that should be taken into account. But when it comes to valuable goods, such as cars, this needs to be strictly taken into account, and that is why we published the clarification,” said Daniel Sheridan Ferri, a spokesman for the European Commission.

After explanations from the EU authorities about the ban on the import of cars, a number of countries stopped allowing cars with Russian license plates. Thus, Estonia banned the entry of cars with Russian registration from September 13, Latvia stopped allowing cars with Russian license plates across the border with Russia and Belarus on September 12, Finland introduced a restriction from midnight on September 16. Poland has banned the entry into its territory of passenger cars registered in Russia since September 17 (for trucks the ban was introduced on June 1). Lithuania has announced that it will not allow cars with Russian license plates into the country unless they are heading to Kaliningrad. Norway became the last Schengen country bordering Russia to introduce a ban, but it came into force later - on October 3. However, in this country the restriction did not affect vehicles carrying more than ten passengers, including minibuses. In addition, diplomatic transport, transport for humanitarian purposes and cars belonging to citizens of Norway, countries of the European Economic Area and members of their families permanently residing in Russia were excluded.

How many Russians entered Europe by car in the first half of the year?

In January-June 2023, before the ban on cars with Russian license plates entering European countries, the number of trips by Russians by personal vehicles amounted to 579 thousand, which is 0.44% more than the same period last year. The number of road trips increased the most to Norway - to 19.7 thousand, which is 2.5 times more year-on-year (7.8 thousand last year). Russians made 44% more car trips to Poland than a year ago - 67.9 thousand times (47 thousand last year). Also, the number of entries by road from Russia grew in Finland - by 14%, to 305.7 thousand, against 266.3 thousand a year ago. People traveled to Estonia less often - the number of trips to this country decreased by 36% year on year - to 107.8 thousand, Latvia was entered 21% less than a year ago - 28.8 thousand times, and cars with Russian numbers came 3% less compared to last year - 48.9 thousand times.